


Ever Onward

by orphan_account



Category: Onward (2020)
Genre: Adventure, Camping, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Explicit Language, Falling In Love, Gen, Kidnapping, M/M, Post-Quest, Quests, Rated For Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23454289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Set a few months after the film, Ian struggles to deal with the pressures of being,well a teenager with virtually limitless magic, meanwhile a...less privileged young man comes to Ian's door with a quest that will challenge everything that Ian knows about his world.
Relationships: Ian Lightfoot/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	Ever Onward

_Okay, don't think about it, just run_ , Ian thinks, his hands gripping the wooden plank, his feet ready to carry him from danger. Sweat drips down the side of his face, eyes follow him, yellow eyes, green eyes, blue eyes, all of them watching, breathing, waiting to see what he'll do, where he'll go. _Too late to back out_ , he thinks, _besides staying isn't an option_. His sneakers drum a nervous beat into the ground, the muscles tense in his jeans, and with his eyes on the doorway he waits for the signal:

**Alright Students that wraps up the end of another school day, have a good one, see you Monday!**

Ian bolts out of his chair so fast that he barely has time to strap on his backpack, he hears the squeak of his sneakers before they get drowned out in the low roar of his classmates shoes hitting the linoleum, the wind whips past him, his hair lightly fluffed by the gust he stirs, his hand reaches the bright brass doorknob, he can feel someone approaching him from behind, but his hand is on the door, he's turning the knob, flinging it open...And there's a crowd. Not a rat race of students proceeding along, but an actual crowd, a focused grouping of multicolored students with their eyes all trained on the door. No, trained on Ian. _Shit_.

He takes a deep breath, lowers his head, and dives in, though his head is low, he can hear the requests, in a thousand different voices they cry out to him, but he only hears snippets: _Hey Ian can you like conjure Taylor Levitt..I really need to pass Chemistry...Could you help me get on the football team...I really want a bigger dick..._

And to each request he gives the same reply :"I don't have the staff with me"

Eventually he manages to break through the wave of people, even though it follows him to the curb where his brother waits, he jumps in the back of the van and tells him to floor it. 

* * *

"You have _got_ to find a better way to deal with these people" Barley says, the fledgling beard he was trying to grow on the quest now beginning to fill out, his eyes on the road, but full of concern.

"I tried telling them no"

"You ever consider telling them 'yes'?"

Ian shot his brother a look "One of them literally asked me to make his dick bigger--"

"Okay, you know what" Barley said, visibly perturbed "fair's fair, well, what about your friends?"

"What about them?"

"Well, why don't they help you fend off some of these people?"

"I couldn't ask them..."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Ian struggled to give a coherent answer to his brother's question, he thought about his friends the people who'd been kind enough not to laugh when Barley had rolled up to the school on Ian's sixteenth birthday, and he tried to imagine asking them to help him fight the hordes, then he tried imagining them actually being useful in that sort of conflict, and there was a disconnect. they were city kids, no they were small town suburbanites, they weren't fighters, they didn't need to deal with this. 

"...Because, it's _my_ problem" 

"Yeah, well, me having to do circuits around our house so these people don't figure out where we live is getting old"

Ian let out a long slow exhale, his eyes drifting out the window, hopping from cloud to cloud, skating over the blue sections, until they arrived home. Getting out of the van, the first thing that Ian noticed was that Barley had added some detail work to the mural on the side of his car.

"Trying to impress someone?" he asked, one thumb stuck out at the new paint job

"What?" Barley visibly blushed, which given their complexion was more like his face turned purple "No. shut up" 

Ian watched as Barley, flustered and stumbling, awkwardly tried to open the door for a good minute before realizing it was unlocked. Okay, that was interesting. As he walked into the house, he was greeted by the cool breath of air conditioning, the image of their sleeping pet dragon, and the soft thud of his mother jumping along to her workout video in the living room. Closing the door behind him Ian let out a small sigh. 

As he walked up the stairs he felt everything falling away, the kids at school, the endless requests from people he didn't even know, and most importantly the eyes that always followed him wherever he went. 

A few hours later he was sitting down to dinner and his mother quietly broached the question of where exactly Barley and Ian went when they took 20 minutes to cover a five minute walk by car. 

"Ian..." Barley said "Really?"

"What?" he said, hoping his brother would keep playing the pronoun game long enough for him to finish shoveling his dinner and escape to his room.

"dude"

"Yeah?"

"did you really not tell mom that people are asking you to do magic on their fun bits?"

their mother nearly choked, as Ian glared at his brother, he helped her cough it out. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Laurel asked

"Because it isn't a big deal" Ian replied

"We have to take that route so they don't figure out where _we live_ " Barley answered. 

"Ian" Laurel said, turning to face her son "let me call someone, the principal--"

"Probably has something bigger to worry about than a few--"

"more than a few..." Barley muttered 

"Since when are you the voice of reason?" Ian asked, surprised at the bite in his voice

Barley's face softened "we're just trying to help...letting us do that might be a good idea"

* * *

A few hours later, Ian sat in the crook of his window, staff in one hand, one of Barley's gaming books in the other, he was attempting something called "dancing lights" which was at present causing a lot of smoke and very little of the flickering multicolored display he'd been promised, the conversation with his mother had ended with her calling the school. He let the smoke stop, dropping the book on his dresser he placed his staff against an adjacent wall. He couldn't even picture it, what would be waiting for him on Monday? An angry mob? People calling him a snitch? would they think he was ungrateful, after all, this wasn't bullying, not technically, they were just asking favors, they were just taking an interest in his culture, and how dare he get offended. 

Ian started to unbutton his plaid shirt when someone coughed. 

Ian looked around the room once more. There was no one. The closet was open, the clothes folded, the window was open, he closed it. Leaving him alone in a room full of yellow lamplight. 

He undid one more button. More coughing. But this wasn't as subtle. This had the sound of someone stage-coughing, trying to get attention, Ian turned around his room once more, there was no one, just the eerie quiet that settled over rooms occupied by only one person, up late at night, with all the lights on. Once he did a full sweep of the room he put his fingers back to their task.

Hot, firm fingers clamped over his nose and mouth, one thumb covering his nostril, the fingers squeezing his lips and jaw shut, he looked down to see...nothing, but he could feel the fingers on his face, then he felt another hand, this one placed the buttons of his shirt back into place, he felt arms, sturdy but slim pressing against his sides, holding him still. Then came the voice.

"Wizard..." it hissed "....I am in need of your services." 

Ian suddenly felt very bad for disliking his classmates mildly annoying requests, if...when he got out of this, he was going give them every scholarship, quarterback position, and two foot dong they wanted. 

"you will accompany me" it said, it's voice suddenly taking on a darker timbre, Ian felt his chest burn, he resisted the urge to scream, but whatever this...whatever it was, was doing, it felt like someone was running a serated knife through his chest "And when you have done this, I will release you from this, our contract."

What Contract? Ian thought as he was released to the floor, gasping for air. 

"Get up." the voice spat "My car is a few blocks from--"

Ian scrambled to the wall, raised his staff and felt a weight drop to the floor, a weight in the center of his chest.

"Really?" the voice said, even though Ian couldn't see their face, he could tell they were smiling

"What...let me up." Ian choked

"Are you gonna try that again?"

"Maybe..."

"huh, odd" the voice said, suddenly clearer, Ian got the impression it might be kneeling near his head "I was told you were something of a doormat"

"Reports have been greatly exaggerated" Ian muttered

The voice chuckled. 

"Well, alright then" Ian heard a finger snap, and the weight was gone. He slowly stumbled to his feet, the staff became a crutch.

"try to keep up" the voice said before his door opened into the dark hallway and Ian followed the sound of footsteps on old floorboards.

* * *

A few blocks and some panting later he stood outside of a rusty old pickup truck near the edge of the woods. Beside it stood an elf, blue skinned life him, but this one looked...off, he couldn't place what looked wrong about him, until he spoke 

"took you long enough" the voice.

"Where are we going?"

"Far away"

 _Cryptic, lovely_.

"For how long"

"As long as we need"

Perfect.

"What are we doing?"

"You" the stranger said, as he got into the drivers seat of his car "Are going to save my grandfather's life"

"Why?"

"try not doing it" he said, his smile landing squarely in the uncanny valley "see what happens"

Ian groaned, wedged his staff in the front seat and muttered a quick "We better stop for food"

"No need" the elf gestured to the trunk, which Ian soon realized wasn't empty. There was a carcass in there. "Plenty to eat."

 _I'm never going to complain about my classmates asking for male enhancement again_ was the last thought Ian had before the stranger turned on the radio and they drove off into the night.


End file.
